So he wasn’t really a slacker, just looked like one.
“ That’s so cool!” I answered, because I instantly pictured him befriending dolphins. Oh wait, I think that’s only people who work at Sea World. Alright, I had no clue what marine biologists actually did.
He nodded and took a microscopic step closer to me. Smooth . “Are you in school?”
I almost answered truthfully, but then I remembered how many details were involved, and I just decided he didn’t really need to know about my life. We were having fun at a party, so I lied.
“ I start in the fall.” Damn, that sounded truthful. I was getting pretty good at this whole deceit thing.
He nodded and then we awkwardly stood there for a moment. We’d pretty much exhausted all of the small talk I could think of. What was Beck talking about with the Dark Lord? Did they have a lot in common? More than he and I had in common? Was she explaining how hard it was to have big boobs? Fuck girls.
I peered over to the spot where I saw them earlier, but they weren’t there anymore. A sinking feeling developed in my gut like my insides were being ripped out. Did they go back to the hotel? Were they making out on our bed?
Jason took another step toward me and I could smell the ocean on his clothes. Or maybe I could just smell the ocean in the air. My head was spinning with images of Beck with another girl.
“ Did you like surfing? You were really good at it.” He was practically an inch away from me then and I could smell beer on his breath.
I forced myself to look up into his brown eyes. “Yeah, it was really fun. I’d like to do it again.”
“ I could take you again. Maybe in the morning?” His voice held so much promise of what else we could do in the morning.
I nodded and smiled up at him because I felt like crap and I wanted him to flirt with me. I liked the way it felt and I told myself it was okay because he was cute.
“ Abby, there probably won’t be time to surf before we hit the road tomorrow,” Beck stated behind me with a sharp tone. My heart leapt into my throat and I turned to find him staring past me, toward Jason. She Who Shall Not Be Named was staring past Beck at me. Oh please, enough with the stare off.
“ What? Last time I checked, our itinerary was fairly loose .” I crossed my arms over my chest, wondering what his motive was. If he liked me then he should do something about it, not just stand there.
Beck answered me simply with, “Not tomorrow.”
Interesting .
I pulled my gaze from him and looked toward the girl behind him. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Abby,” I mentioned, extending my hand out toward her. She looked down at it with a puzzled expression before reaching to shake it.
“ I’m Lia,” she answered with a genuine smile. I was offering her a truce, and in that moment, the tension in the air started to melt away. Slightly.
As soon as we released our handshake, a random drunk girl shouted from the other side of the bonfire, “Let’s play Drink or Dare!”
I laughed because it seemed so cliché, but to my surprise everyone instantly agreed and started shifting chairs into a circle. I’d never been to a party, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the premise of Drink or Dare. Luckily, my drink of choice would be H2O. Everyone scrambled to position their collapsible chairs by their friends, and at the end of it all, I was stuck by Jason while Beck and Lia ended up on the other side of the bonfire. The hint of a smirk on her face told me she was pleased with the arrangement. Maybe she was a wizard. Witch. Whatever. Maybe she’s a dude.
If this were a movie, that’s the moment where I would have taken a big gulp of some kind of alcohol. Instead, I untwisted my water bottle cap and took a long sip. The same drunk girl that initiated the game a few minutes ago jumped up and clapped her hands.